A Hillsboro police officer shot a man armed with a knife Thursday, inside the Sedona Park Apartments, after the man allegedly assaulted his girlfriend and stabbed a neighbor who tried to help.Emily E. Smith/The Oregonian

A woman in her 20s and her boyfriend, 29, who live in an upstairs unit of the Sedona Park Apartments on Northeast Barberry Drive, had been fighting all day before police were called, said Lt. Mike Rouches, a Hillsboro police spokesman. The fight escalated Thursday night.

"When he started drinking, it got a little amped up," Rouches said.

Shortly before 11:30 p.m., a neighbor called 9-1-1 to report a domestic disturbance while her boyfriend went next door to see if he could help. Inside the apartment, a man was punching his girlfriend in the face. During the call, the neighbor told dispatch her boyfriend had been stabbed.

Police said the man who assaulted his girlfriend cut the neighbor with a folding knife in his upper thigh while the two were scuffling outside the apartment, Rouches said.

"We're thinking, he beat someone, stabbed someone, and we have to stop him," Rouches said.

The 29-year-old suspect went back inside and walked to the back of the apartment. Officers, who were positioned behind their home, watched as he walked onto the back balcony.

Two officers, entered the apartment through the front door and confronted the man, who was still armed with the folding knife, Rouches said. From about 15 feet away, the officers ordered the man to drop the weapon.

He didn't listen, Rouches said, and approached them. One officer shot the man with a Taser, Rouches said, but it was not effective.

The man, who was raising the knife, continued toward the officers, Rouches said. The officers yelled for the man to drop the knife.

But, Rouches said, the man continued to approach, and one of the officers fired two rounds from his department-issued handgun. The man was shot at least once in his torso, Rouches said. Police then took the man into custody.

The officers, who have not been identified, were not injured. The officer who fired has placed on standard paid leave.

The man, whom police have not identified, was taken to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, where he underwent surgery. His condition is not known, but police say he is expected to survive.

Rouches the suspect's girlfriend suffered a broken nose and other facial injuries and was also taken to a local hospital. The neighbor was treated and released at an area medical center.

Rouches said the officers radioed that shots had been fired at 11:37 p.m. He was unsure of the exact time the Taser was deployed and the size of the knife's blade.

Brandon Cabrera, who lives in a nearby unit with windows facing the apartment where the incident occurred, said he heard a woman's voice before police arrived Thursday.

"I heard a woman screaming for a minute or three," he said. "Then it got quiet, and a minute later the police and ambulance came."

Cabrera said after that, he briefly heard a man yelling.

The 16-year-old said he looked outside to see the complex cordoned off with police tape.

Gabby Andrade, who lives in another unit, said she and her husband were going to bed Thursday night when she saw lights flashing outside. At first, they thought police were just pulling over a vehicle on the street along the complex, but she then spotted an ambulance. Outside, she saw multiple police cars.

"They were surrounding the whole place," she said.

Her husband and father ducked out of the home where they've lived just more than a year, but police ordered them to go back inside.

Police were blocking the entrance to the apartment parking lot, she said.

Two light brown buildings comprise the 20-unit apartment complex. Andrade, who has lived there for a little more than a year, said the complex is usually quiet.

Andrade expressed surprise when she learned which apartment the police responded to Thursday. She said a woman lives there with her mother, boyfriend and child.

Rouches said police have never responded to a domestic disturbance at the residence before.

On the door where the shooting occurred, a hand-written note on lined paper said, "We have no comment. Please do not bother us. Thank you."

Jessica Rodriguez, a neighbor who lives close to that unit, said she was asleep Thursday night when she heard a woman screaming.

"She was asking for help," Rodriguez said. "Not even two minutes later the police were already here."

Rodriguez said she knows the neighbors involved but hadn't spoken with them since the incident. She declined to say more.

A woman who lives next door to the apartment answered the door Friday morning but declined to comment.